Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Berardi.
Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
I began playing music at age 12, first on guitar, then switching to drums 2 years later. I had always been fascinated by the drum set. The look of it, all the different mysterious elements, how did it all work? The first time I sat down at a drum kit, I could play a groove and keep time, so I knew it was for me. They say drummers are born, not made, and to a certain extent I believe that’s true. Certainly anyone can learn anything if they put in the hard work, but there is a natural connection to the rhythm and pulse of life that certain people seem to innately possess.
I am self taught, but at college age I took music classes and began to play piano, mallet percussion (vibes and marimba) and study music theory. This really opened me up to other kinds of music beyond what I had been listening to and playing up until then, which was pretty much rock. I began to explore all sorts of styles that caught my ear, including music from other cultures and avant contemporary classical music. I was expanding my musical palette to include other sound sources beyond the traditional drum kit, using percussion and found sounds, and that approach continues to this day. While I was satisfying my musical curiosity, I also learned early on that one could actually earn money playing music. Though still in high school, I began to make extra money playing music, sometimes in bars where I was not even old enough to be in them.
My interest in growth, discovery and learning has never waned. But alongside the explorations comes the reality of earning a living playing music. I have been lucky to be able to straddle the line between creativity and commerce. I have been able to play with musicians who have commercial success, and musicians who are artistically successful, sometimes both at the same time! When I first moved to Los Angeles many years ago, I was fortunate to hook up with a newly formed band called The Fibonaccis. We were a highly regarded avant-rock art band, and achieved great success on the local scene here in LA. From there, I have played with a long and varied list of musicians and bands, both in recording and live performance. Some highlights include Stan Ridgway (ex-Wall Of Voodoo), Nancy and Beth (with Megan Mullally), Malcolm Mooney (ex-Can), Ann Magnuson (ex-Bongwater), Congo Norvell (with Kid Congo Powers), The Deadbeats, Obliteration Percussion Quartet, Don Preston and Bunk Gardner (ex-Mothers Of Invention), Joey Santiago and Frank Black (Pixies), folk legend Donovan, No Wave superstars Lydia Lunch and James White, and many more. My ongoing project with Kira Vollman, called Non Credo, has been an outlet for our compositional and multi-instrumental abilities.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Being a full time working musician has never been easy, even in the best of times. Finding gigs, maintaining your skills, and constant travel is hard work. But over the last several years, it has gotten even harder. The technologies that have made music so accessible to everyone has also cut into the ability of musicians and artists to earn a living. Music has become ubiquitous, which might seem like a good thing on the surface, but the problem is that along with the availability has come the devaluation. This not only applies to recorded music, but to live performance as well. Without financial support, it becomes harder and harder to continue to produce music.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Alongside being a performing musician, for the last 10 years or so I have been working in electronics. I began by doing circuit bending, which consists of finding electronics, mostly children toys that produce sound, and taking them apart and altering the circuits to extract sounds that they were never intended to make. This led to building my own sound making devices and effects pedals. I have a small side business, called F Hole, where I sell these sound makers and pedals. I also use the instruments in my own music making, especially in an improvisational context. Please visit my site at www.fholefx.com for more info.
What are your plans for the future? What are you looking forward to or planning for – any big changes?
Things have changed greatly with the ongoing global pandemic, and the future for musicians is very uncertain. No one knows when live performance will return, and how that will look once it does. It feels like it will be quite a while until things return to any degree of normalcy. On the plus side, I have been using this time to write and record my own music here at home, and will release my first solo collection once done. After playing and releasing countless recordings with the various projects I’ve been involved in, this will be the first time I will have something under my own name alone. The music I’m writing is all instrumental, very evocative, cinematic and colorful. I’m hoping to maybe make something good out of a bad situation.
Pricing:
- Many of the circuit bent instruments, effects pedals and sound devices I make with F Hole are available for sale. Send me a note for info on anything you might be interested in, and also get in touch for any drumming needs.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.fholefx.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fholefx/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fholefx, https://www.facebook.com/NonCredoMusic/
- Other: http://www.noncredo.com
Image Credit:
JoeBerardiLiveT photo by: Ana Yazdi
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